Posted on 08/27/2017 12:13:58 PM PDT by NCjim
Congressional investigators and military officials warned repeatedly about overworked sailors, shortened training schedules and budget cuts in the years leading up to two fatal collisions involving U.S. Navy ships, government auditors, lawmakers and Pentagon officials said.
The collisions in June and earlier this week, both Navy guided-missile destroyers operating in the Pacific, left 17 sailors dead or missing.
Three reports in the past two years by the Government Accountability Office, an independent watchdog agency, spell out endemic problems. They found through interviews and Navy studies that U.S. sailors overseas often arrive to their assigned ships without adequate skills and experience. They end up on duty for an average of 108 hours a week, instead of the Navy-standard of 80 hours, the reports found.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I don’t see that anything that I’ve stated *as opinion* differs from that post in anything but degree.
Not faulting you, just wondering if you’d read it.
So, were supposed to believe that two Navy ships colliding with merchants along with two top of the line riverine patrol ships ALL suffered critical navigational errors?
Pull the other one..
As another former OOD on Navy ships, that is exactly the point I have been trying to make here in the multiple threads on this subject.
I did. And he succinctly states what should be happening on the bridge. Problem that I am hearing is that often these DDG’s have a single binocular-armed watch stander aft of the bridge. That’s the crewman. You are relying on to confirm the bearing that the radar plot is relaying to OOD. Single point failure, right there.
Enlisted Navy, normally junior (E1 to E3) without specialty training.
Thanks for y’all input!
I’ve thought about asking Richard to post at FR, but he’s sort of a free spirit so I’ve never mentioned it to him.
I take it you weren't actually an OOD, because as the referenced individual so states, the OOD should have a pretty clear picture from looking at the radar scope head [i.e. radar repeater on the bridge which shows the OOD the bearing and range to anything providing a radar return, which certainly includes all merchants above a couple of thousand tons. He can also visually see any merchants around and can walk out on the bridge wing to look aft if he thinks things are happening he needs to look at (like ship traffic in a shipping lane).
I wish folks would get that point through their heads before they talk about jamming, spoofing, and chinese malware in navigation software. The OOD can see the damn things at least 10-12 miles away and a night you can see the lights on top of the masts of a freigher out to well more than 20 nm. These ships were not surprised. They just had incompent OODs who did not know how to give the orders to set the course and speed to avoid a collision.
The Underway Officer of the Deck Fu&#ed UP so bad it’s difficult to imagine.
There you have the plain simple straightforward truth of the matter.
I guess my point is why does it keep happening?
The guy knows what he is talking about and nails it. Court martial for the OOD and Leavenworth, he says. Just right.
Simple. Too much bureaucracy in the swamp focusing everyone’s attention on all the wrong things. So competent OODs on operating ships is not anyone’s priority. No one cares.
Great! I feel sort of proud!
I’ve always enjoyed his articles when he delves off onto other topics besides his usual fare of excerise and nutrition posts.
If the watches were properly manned and feeding the OOD information that conflicted with his (mis)interpretation of the radar plot, then the OOD *might* actually take the decision to step out onto the wing bridge as you point out. It’s similar to rookie pilots.not getting their eyes out of the cockpit when the situation demands it.
Fatigue?, more likely "tired and emotional".
Do you know how long they stay at sea?
Because, obviously, the deep state swamp monsters in DC [and the Pentagon is just as guilty as anyone else] have all kinds of priorities and demands for time none of which put safe navigation of ships at the top of the list.
I am sure that in addition to being overburdened by administrivium, the ships officers are also overburdened by endless inspections [think audit, not uniform inspection] to make sure that all of those rules are being followed. Again, safe navigation is apparently not a key issue to track.
If what I hear about the work demands on ship's officers is true, it is right and proper that 7th fleet commander Adm. Aucoin was relieved. He is directly responsible for all of that in the 7th fleet. I suspect he will turn out to be one of the better ones too and there are a lot that need to be shoved out as a wake-up call.
Obama enjoyed a very destructive 8 years.
OBAMA’S FAULT!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.